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If you are like me, you have probably heard about Cisco’s Telepresence video conferencing system but probably didn’t realize that it was much more than a regular video conferencing suite. Sure, I had seen Cisco Telepresence on the TV show “24” and it looked pretty neat but I didn’t envision the scope of what is…

So many new or aspiring network administrators have asked me “what is the best router to use to learn the Cisco IOS?”, or “what is the best router to use to practice for your CCNA exam?”, or even, “what is the best router to use to connect your home or small business to the Internet?”….

Recently, there was a Petri Virtualization Forums member asking about how he could automatically power up a VMware Guest OS. To help that member and others member who may have the same question, I have created this article on how to automatically power up VMware Server Guest Operating systems on server boot up. Why do…

Many users of Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 have had problems when trying to access the Windows Update site. Windows Update works fine scanning for updates, but when you choose to download and install them the page displays this happy error message: Windows Update has encountered an error and cannot display the…

Windows Update Problems – Error 0x80070485 When you use a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows Millennium Edition to access the Windows Update Web site, you may receive a 0x80070485 initialization error message while the page loads. BTW, this error is not the only error message one might…

Many users of Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 have had problems when trying to access the Windows Update site. BTW, this error is not the only error message one might receive while trying to scan, download or install Hotfixes from the Windows Update site. Here is my current list of other Windows…

Many users of Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 have had problems when trying to access the Windows Update site. I’ve searched all over the Internet for solutions to these problems and came up with the following list of possible solutions. These solutions are not arranged by any specific order, although I do…

How can I work with Query-Based Distribution groups in Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003? Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 have a new group type called “Queries-Based Distribution groups”. With the new Queries-Based Distribution groups we can now create new types of distribution groups that are different from the regular type of…

Windows Vista comes with a new and shiny user interface. Most of the things we’ve gotten used to in Windows XP are still there, in one way or another, but there are also many new features that need getting used to. One of the most noticeable changes is the way the Windows Vista Explorer, in…

  A snapshot is a shadow copy—created by the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)—of the volumes that contain the Active Directory database and log files. With Active Directory snapshots, you can view the data inside such a snapshot on a domain controller without the need to start the server in Directory Services Restore Mode. Windows…

Network protocol analysis is a technique used to view, in real time, the raw data sent and received over a network interface. This is useful for troubleshooting network configuration and network application problems. It is also useful when developing new network protocols. In this article, I’ll go over the very basics of troubleshooting a network…

What are the Windows XP supported update paths? You can upgrade most Windows client operating systems directly to Windows XP Professional. If you upgrade instead of doing a new installation, you will not lose the existing settings and applications on the partition. When preparing for an upgrade, you should first complete the tasks listed on…